God's Country at
Cuesta College in December

Click to view photos of God's Country

What happens when fear and hatred crystallize into violent group action?

Steven Dietz’s “God’s Country,” the latest production from the Cuesta Drama Department, documents the rise of the Order, a white supremacist group based in the Northwest that embarked on a yearlong crime spree that included robbery, counterfeiting, and the murder of Denver talk show host Alan Berg.

The “inherently dramatic” story, in its fast-paced, highly theatrical exposé of the contemporary white supremacist movement, will take the stage in December at the Cuesta College Interact Theater. Performances are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., December 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Sunday matinees are scheduled at 2 p.m., December 5 and 12. The Interact Theater is located at Cuesta’s San Luis Obispo Campus.

Set in a Seattle courtroom, a Denver radio station and several other locations across America, Seattle playwright Steven Dietz’s production draws on real-life hate crime cases to chronicle the development of right-wing hate organizations and the crimes they perpetuate.

Using court records, news archives and witness interviews, Dietz documents a neo-Nazi crime wave of assassination and acts of larceny by a group called The Order.

The play intertwines the life of outspoken Jewish talk-radio host Alan Berg, assassinated by The Order in 1984; the career of the group’s founder, Robert Mathews; and the Seattle trial of The Order members who murdered Berg.

The production is proving to be a harrowing process at times for all involved. “It’s been a fairly frightening experience to work on,” confessed bree valle (lowercase intentional), the director of “God’s Country and a Cuesta drama instructor. “There have been times when this pervading fear, this sense of dread, in bringing to life people with radical, racist viewpoints who have thoughts of creating a white homeland, becomes so strong it really disturbs you. And yet my task as the director is to ensure every actor will embody each character in mind, body, voice and spirit.”

Tickets for “God’s Country” are $10 general admission, $8 for students with an ID. For more information, contact Cuesta College Performing Arts at 546-3195.